Bayard Wilson

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Elective Neck Dissection in Patients With Clinically Node-Negative Oral Cavity Cancer

Purpose Recently, a large randomized trial found a survival advantage among patients who received elective neck dissection in conjunction with primary surgery for clinically node-negative oral cavity cancer compared with those receiving primary surgery alone. However, elective neck dissection comes with greater upfront cost and patient morbidity. We present a cost-effectiveness analysis of elective neck dissection for the initial surgical management of early-stage oral cavity cancer. Methods We constructed a Markov model to simulate primary, adjuvant, and salvage therapy; disease recurrence; and survival in patients with T1/T2 clinically node-negative oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. Transition probabilities were derived from clinical trial data; costs (in 2015 US dollars) and health utilities were estimated from the literature. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, expressed as dollar per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY), were calculated with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios less than

Superior Prognostic Value of Cumulative Intracranial Tumor Volume Relative to Largest Intracranial Tumor Volume for Stereotactic Radiosurgery-Treated Brain Metastasis Patients

100,000/QALY considered cost effective. We conducted one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to examine model uncertainty. Results Our base-case model found that over a lifetime the addition of elective neck dissection to primary surgery reduced overall costs by

Depression After Spinal Surgery: A Comparative Analysis of the California Outcomes Database

6,000 and improved effectiveness by 0.42 QALYs compared with primary surgery alone. The decrease in overall cost despite the added neck dissection was a result of less use of salvage therapy. On one-way sensitivity analysis, the model was most sensitive to assumptions about disease recurrence, survival, and the health utility reduction from a neck dissection. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis found that treatment with elective neck dissection was cost effective 76% of the time at a willingness-to-pay threshold of

MR-guided delivery of AAV2-BDNF into the entorhinal cortex of non-human primates

100,000/QALY. Conclusion Our study found that the addition of elective neck dissection reduces costs and improves health outcomes, making this a cost-effective treatment strategy for patients with early-stage oral cavity cancer.

Psychiatric Disease Preceding Intracranial Tumor Diagnosis: Investigating the Association.

BACKGROUND Two intracranial tumor volume variables have been shown to prognosticate survival of stereotactic-radiosurgery-treated brain metastasis patients: the largest intracranial tumor volume (LITV) and the cumulative intracranial tumor volume (CITV). OBJECTIVE To determine whether the prognostic value of the Scored Index for Radiosurgery (SIR) model can be improved by replacing one of its components-LITV-with CITV. METHODS We compared LITV and CITV in terms of their survival prognostication using a series of multivariable models that included known components of the SIR: age, Karnofsky Performance Score, status of extracranial disease, and the number of brain metastases. Models were compared using established statistical measures, including the net reclassification improvement (NRI > 0) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). The analysis was performed in 2 independent cohorts, each consisting of ∼3000 patients. RESULTS In both cohorts, CITV was shown to be independently predictive of patient survival. Replacement of LITV with CITV in the SIR model improved the models ability to predict 1-yr survival. In the first cohort, the CITV model showed an NRI > 0 improvement of 0.2574 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.1890-0.3257) and IDI of 0.0088 (95% CI 0.0057-0.0119) relative to the LITV model. In the second cohort, the CITV model showed a NRI > 0 of 0.2604 (95% CI 0.1796-0.3411) and IDI of 0.0051 (95% CI 0.0029-0.0073) relative to the LITV model. CONCLUSION After accounting for covariates within the SIR model, CITV offers superior prognostic value relative to LITV for stereotactic radiosurgery-treated brain metastasis patients.

Cumulative Intracranial Tumor Volume Augments the Prognostic Value of Diagnosis-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment Model for Survival in Patients with Melanoma Cerebral Metastases

Objective: To examine the relative incidence of newly recorded diagnosis of depression after spinal surgery as a proxy for the risk of post–spinal surgery depression. Patients and Methods: We used the longitudinal California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development database (January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2010) to identify patients who underwent spinal surgery during these years. Patients with documented depression before surgery were excluded. Risk of new postoperative depression was determined via the incidence of newly recorded depression on any hospitalization subsequent to surgery. For comparison, this risk was also determined for patients hospitalized during the same time period for coronary artery bypass grafting, hysterectomy, cholecystectomy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure exacerbation, or uncomplicated vaginal delivery. Results: Our review identified 1,078,639 patients. Relative to the uncomplicated vaginal delivery cohort, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for newly recorded depression within 5 years after the admission of interest were 5.05 for spinal surgery (95% CI, 4.79–5.33), 2.33 for coronary artery bypass grafting (95% CI, 2.15–2.54), 3.04 for hysterectomy (95% CI, 2.88–3.21), 2.51 for cholecystectomy (95% CI, 2.35–2.69), 2.44 for congestive heart failure exacerbation (95% CI, 2.28–2.61), and 3.04 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (95% CI, 2.83–3.26). Among patients who underwent spinal surgery, this risk of postoperative depression was highest for patients who underwent fusion surgery (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.22–1.36) or had undergone multiple spinal operations (HR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.16–1.29) during the analyzed period. Conclusion: Patients who undergo spinal surgery have a higher risk for postoperative depression than patients treated for other surgical or medical conditions known to be associated with depression.

Histologic Evidence for Arteriovenous Malformation-Like Vasculature Occurring within an Intracerebral Schwannoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene delivery to the entorhinal cortex is a candidate for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to reduce neurodegeneration that is associated with memory loss. Accurate targeting of the entorhinal cortex in AD is complex due to the deep and atrophic state of this brain region. Using MRI-guided methods with convection-enhanced delivery, we were able to accurately and consistently target AAV2-BDNF delivery to the entorhinal cortex of non-human primates; 86 ± 3% of transduced cells in the targeted regions co-localized with the neuronal marker NeuN. The volume of AAV2-BDNF (3 × 108 vg/µl) infusion linearly correlated with the number of BDNF labeled cells and the volume (mm3) of BDNF immunoreactivity in the entorhinal cortex. BDNF is normally trafficked to the hippocampus from the entorhinal cortex; in these experiments, we also found that BDNF immunoreactivity was elevated in the hippocampus following therapeutic BDNF vector delivery to the entorhinal cortex, achieving growth factor distribution through key memory circuits. These findings indicate that MRI-guided infusion of AAV2-BDNF to the entorhinal cortex of the non-human primate results in safe and accurate targeting and distribution of BDNF to both the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus. These methods are adaptable to human clinical trials.

339 Comparative Prognostic Value of the Cumulative Intracranial Tumor Volume and Score Index for Radiosurgery in Brain Metastasis.

Objective Here, we examine rates of intracranial tumor diagnoses in patients with and without comorbid psychiatric diagnoses to better understand how psychiatric disease may alter risk profiles for brain tumor diagnosis. Methods We used a longitudinal version of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) database, which includes all inpatient admissions in California from 1995 to 2010. We examined patients with confirmed hospital admissions from 1997 to 2004. Patients with an intracranial tumor or psychiatric diagnosis on their first hospital admission were excluded. The primary outcome of interest was the diagnosis of intracranial tumor on any subsequent hospitalization within 5 years. Risk of tumor diagnosis was determined via Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and comorbidity burden. Subset analyses were performed for various tumor types. Results The risk for diagnosis of an intracranial tumor within 5 years, as determined by the hazard ratio, was 1.61 (95% CI, 1.28-2.04) for bipolar, 1.59 (95% CI, 1.41-1.72) for anxious, and 1.34 (95% CI, 1.25-1.43) for depressed cohorts relative to controls. More specifically, the risk for diagnosis of a primary benign neoplasm was elevated in depressed patients, while the risk for diagnosis of a meningioma was elevated in depressed, anxious, and bipolar disorder patients. Conclusions Patients admitted with certain psychiatric diagnoses appear more likely to be readmitted within 5 years with specific types of intracranial tumor diagnoses. The association between certain psychiatric diagnoses and subsequent brain tumor diagnosis most likely reflects the long-held belief that slow-growing tumors may first present as psychiatric symptoms before being diagnosed. Primary care physicians should consider the possibility of an underlying intracranial tumor in patients with new psychiatric diagnoses.

A pilot study of physician personal preferences for treatment of glioblastoma

BACKGROUND The diagnosis‐specific graded prognostic assessment scale (ds‐GPA) for patients with melanoma brain metastasis (BM) utilizes only 2 key prognostic variables: Karnofsky performance status and the number of intracranial metastases. We wished to determine whether inclusion of cumulative intracranial tumor volume (CITV) into the ds‐GPA model for melanoma augmented its prognostic value. OBJECTIVE To determine whether or not CITV augments the ds‐GPA prognostic scale for melanoma. METHODS We analyzed the survival pattern of 344 melanoma patients with BM treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) at separate institutions and validated our findings in an independent cohort of 201 patients. The prognostic value of ds‐GPA for melanoma was quantitatively compared with and without the addition of CITV using the net reclassification index (NRI > 0) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) metrics. RESULTS The incorporation of CITV into the melanoma‐specific ds‐GPA model enhanced its prognostic accuracy. Addition of CITV to the ds‐GPA model significantly improved its prognostic value, with NRI > 0 of 0.366 (95% CI: 0.125‐0.607, P = .002) and IDI of 0.024 (95% CI: 0.008‐0.040, P = .004). We validated these findings that CITV improves the prognostic utility of melanoma ds‐GPA in an independent cohort of 201 melanoma cohort. CONCLUSION The prognostic value of the ds‐GPA scale for melanoma BM is enhanced by the incorporation of CITV.

Improving the Prognostic Value of Disease-Specific Graded Prognostic Assessment Model for Renal Cell Carcinoma by Incorporation of Cumulative Intracranial Tumor Volume

BACKGROUND The phenomenon of intracerebral schwannoma is exceedingly rare, and its etiology still a matter of debate. No documented cases of intracerebral schwannoma containing vascular elements consistent with those of an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) have been reported. We describe such a case here. CASE DESCRIPTION A left temporal intraparenchymal lesion was discovered incidentally in a 34-year-old man after he suffered a mild trauma. The lesion was resected and found on histologic examination to be an intracerebral schwannoma with AVM-like vasculature. The patient made a full recovery after resection. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first case of an intracerebral schwannoma with AVM-like characteristics to be reported in the literature. We hypothesize that the co-occurrence of this rare pathologic entity is caused by an interrelated etiologic process, with the tumor microenvironment of the schwannoma inciting the development of the vascular malformation.